At what point does a reason become an excuse? What makes it so?

Answer 1

To me a reason is the cause for something that happened that was beyond your control.
An excuse is either something that was within your control or something that has happened often enough that the cause then becomes something that you can control because there was a high enough probability that the end outcome would be the same that you should have done something different in order to prevent it.
For example: Being late for work once due to traffic. Traffic would be the reason for tardiness. Being late three times in one week due to traffic. Traffic would then become an excuse as the person could have/should have left earlier knowing that traffic could be a problem.

Answer 2

In my opinion, an excuse is when you explain something that you did wrong and that your were obviously in the wrong for, but you don't apologize. When you try to justify your behaviour or blame it on something or someone else. For example, "I blew up at you because all these things have been building up inside me and I guess I just exploded." is an explanation. However, "Everyone's been annoying me today, then I come home and the house isn't tidy like it should have been, and I lost it." is an excuse. It's not taking responsibility for your behaviour and blaming it on others. Also if they say something like, "Well I'm not saying sorry because it's how I feel, I'm not going to apologize for the way I am." It sounds to me like you explained yourself well and apologized. It doesn't sound like you're making excuses at all. P.S. Ramblinrose...this isn't the 60's! Do you realize how many people live together and aren't married? Getting married isn't the answer to every relationship problem. Every married couple has problems as well, that's why there's a 50% divorce rate.

Answer 3

A LOT of people have trouble with this. My ex-boss especially.

At its most basic:

Reason - the motivation or cause for something to happen. This does not say that when you give a reason you think that justifies or makes right what was done. "The reason I ate your lunch was that I was hungry and didn't see anything else to eat."

Excuse - a reason that seeks to absolve the action from fault. This means you think that the action was justified given the circumstances, and don't beleive you were wrong to do it. "I ate your lunch because it was exactly the same as mine was, and you didn't put your name on it so I didn't realise it was yours."

However, many idiots ask for an explanation, and when given the reason, get angry and tell you they don't want to hear excuses. I wonder what their excuse for being a numbskull is?

Answer 4

I believe is reason becomes an excuse when used excessively to get out of doing something. Like a chore. Also, a reason becomes an excuse when it forms into a form of "nagging" or become highly annoying.

Answer 5

Easy, the best excuse, example: the reason I am late coming home, I worked overtime as a favor to my Boss. Translation: I had a few drinks with my Buddies after work. Human nature makes it so.

Answer 6

Reason becomes an excuse when you use it to stop moving forward in life.

Answer 7

It depends on the view and prespectives.

When you are late for school because of traffic congestion, you tell your teacher the following:

' I am sorry I'm late because of traffic congestion.'

This statement becomes a reason when the teacher really believes you. S/He may say,

'OK, make sure you phone school when this happen again'

However, if the teacher doesn't believe you (maybe you're late very often, or the teacher sees you having breakfast in McDonald's), then S/He may say,

'Don't make any excuse, please'

Answer 8

I say people say reaons are excuses because they don't except the fact in which u made a mistake for a reason or something happened for a reason instead of what they believe.

Answer 9

Reason leans upon a preference, and becomes an excuse when prioritized.

Answer 10

Reason becomes excuse when you fail to move forward.